Four-time Olympic champion told he must earn his place in Team GB squad at Rio
Olympics

Sir Bradley Wiggins will face a battle to regain his spot in Team GB's Olympic squad if he seeks to end his career at the Rio Games in 2016, according to British Cycling performance director Sir Dave Brailsford as well as members of the present Team GB squad.

Speaking ahead of the Track Cycling World Championships in Cali, Colombia, at the end of the month, Brailsford described Wiggins, a four-time Olympic champion and Britain's first Tour de France winner, as an "exceptional" rider but cautioned that that in itself was no guarantee of selection.

"Just because he is called Bradley Wiggins doesn't mean he would be selected," Brailsford said. "But I can't see why he couldn't [return for Rio]. It would be the end of his career. It would make a great last chapter."

Wiggins, who will be 36 by the time of the next Games, said last week that he was undecided about whether to stay on at Team Sky next year but expressed an interest in returning to track cycling for one final shot at gold in Brazil. "That [the Olympics] was where it all started for me in Sydney [2000]," he said. "To finish there, and hopefully go out on a high, would be great."

Brailsford said that marrying a road cycling programme at Team Sky with British Cycling's selection process for the Games would not be an issue but said that ultimately it boiled down to whether Wiggins was prepared to put in the effort required.

"The bottom line is in order to win Olympic medal you have to be prepared to make sacrifices," he said. "Brad is exceptional but it would be more down to his commitment to suffering. The more successful people become the more difficult it becomes."

Ed Clancy, twice an Olympic champion in the men's pursuit, said he thought Wiggins stood a "really good chance" of regaining his place in the team, but warned that the level of competition had risen sharply in recent years.

"There are a lot of people think Brad is too much of a road rider now and won't have the speed," Clancy said. "I think he'll have a really good chance of making the team if that's what he wants to do.

"Having said that, guys like Jon [Dibben] have only just had their 20th birthday on Wednesday. When me and Geraint [Thomas] were 20 we were shite, we weren't anywhere near the standard of the younger lads.

"In two or three years it could be a completely different game. Time will tell. Brad has a good case if he wants to come back and I'm one of the people who believes he has a good chance."

Mark Cavendish, who has never won an Olympic medal, could also potentially return to the track in Rio and Brailsford said that he would welcome the Manxman with open arms although he pointed out that Cavendish's road team, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, might not be as accommodating in terms of tailoring a specific programme to suit his goals as Team Sky, where Brailsford is general manager.